Despite having played nine NRL games in 2015-16, back-rower Coen Hess officially moved into the NRL squad in 2017 from the club’s National Youth Competition set-up.

In his eight NRL games for the Cowboys in 2016, he scored four tries and terrorised edge defenders with his mobility, speed, size and strength.

If those two seasons provided coaching staff and fans with a glimpse of Hess’s potential, 2017 saw the young behemoth arrive as a bona fide NRL talent.

A staple of head coach Paul Green’s forwards rotation, Hess ripped in from the get-go, using his rare combination of speed, size and strength to steamroll opposition defences.

Virtually unstoppable in the first half of the season, Hess scored 10 tries from his first 13 games of the season and was topping the Cowboys’ try-scoring list for the bulk of the year before being reined in late by winger Kyle Feldt.

The real watershed moment for Hess came in the representative arena when he was selected for Queensland in Games II and III of the 2017 State of Origin series as the Maroons captured a third straight victory over the NSW Blues.

Hess is contracted to the Cowboys until the end of the 2019 season.

After spending the majority of the first three seasons of his career beginning games from the bench, Coen Hess finally nailed down a spot in the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys starting side in 2018.

He played all three games of the Origin series for Queensland and was one of their best in the Game Three victory over NSW at Suncorp Stadium.

Favourite movie: Step Brothers
Favourite sports team: North Queensland Cowboys
Favourite athlete growing up: Johnathan Thurston
Who would play you in a movie?: Ivan Drago
If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?: Steak, mashed potato and gravy
Most ridiculous fact you know: A mosquito has 47 teeth
First CD: So Fresh 2006
Run on song: Jaws theme song
Event you would most like to attend: Tomorrowland
One superpower: The ability to eat whatever I wanted and not gain fat
Childhood career ambition: I actually wanted to be the red Wiggle – Murray!
Pre-game meal: Spaghetti bolognaise
Favourite joke: What do you call a deer with no eyes? No eye deer
One word to describe yourself: Chin